New Age
by GaBeRock
Summary: The year is 2031. Strange markings have been appearing on children, and biotechnology companies are nearing a resolution that would allow them to sell genetic modifications to the general public. Are these two things related? a anima story see the little plus?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Biochemistry 101

Date: March 22nd, 2031

**(A/N: This is AU)**

Cooro pushed his hair across his forehead in frustration. His grip on the mechanical pencil was almost enough to break the poor writing implement, and he had been muttering minor obscenities under his breath for nearly five minutes. None of this, however, was helping him solve his BiChem problem.

Around him, the other dozen or so students on his class, including his friend Husky, worked studiously at their laptops answering questions. The fluorescent school lights, one of the many old fashioned things about their school glinted on the laptops the school had loaned out. They were older models, chrome colored, streamlined BetaBook 808's (as opposed to the newer 909 models), and had that peculiar quality that never made them seem truly old, yet never truly new. His pencil was one of his many little quirks- he had his own BetaBook, but he liked having a pencil simply because he liked the ability to doodle in the margins of his assignments and tests.

Finally, he figured out the answer to the question. He proceeded to finish his test in record time- the question he had puzzled over was apparently the hardest question on the test. True to form, he spent the next thirteen minutes, doodling in his notebook.

The bell finally rang and Cooro, practically jumping out of his seat, vacated the classroom. He joined the mad rush of students to get to the lunchroom. He had transferred to Central Academy (or just Central) from the parochial school St. John's; it had been a good school, but offered very few advanced classes, unlike the more prestigious Central. Spotting his friends Nana and Husky he smiled and waved enthusiastically at them before cutting through the crowd to get to them.

"Hi Cooro!" Nana exclaimed, cheerful as always, before bowing quickly and saying a Japanese greeting. The blond-haired girl was a born-and-bred American, like him, but was obsessed with Japanese culture, and a bit of an otaku, a term previously reserved for men, although more and more women classified themselves as such now.

"Hello." This was Husky. He had silvery hair that almost seemed blue, and a delicate, almost feminine figure, leading to some of the other students to accuse him of illegal gene modding. Normally, taunts like this were ignored, although, since Husky's father was one of the chairmen of one of the largest bio-tech companies, he had to take them a bit more seriously.

The group, once it had met up, continued on its way to the lunchroom, Cooro and Nana carrying most of the conversation, although Husky made the occasional comment.

After entering the lunchroom, which was a massive affair designed to fit nearly eight hundred students comfortably at a time, they made their way to the middle school section. Nana was in sixth grade and Husky and Cooro in seventh (Husky was actually about the same age as Nana, although he had skipped second grade.) Cooro had originally wanted to sit in the high school section by their friend Senri, a junior in high school, but the lunchroom monitors had prohibited them. They placed their orders on the school's network, and began the process of waiting for the "done" notification.

"Sooooo, Husky, c'n you tell us anyth'ng 'bout prop 732?" Cooro asked, poking Husky with his fork.

"Cooro, everything I know can be found on the internet, look it up."

"But c'mon husky!" Nana wheedled. "You h've to know someth'ng extra about it. Delivr'ng gene mods _legally_ to the g'n'ral public sounds like a great idea! The first one I'd buy would change the c'ler of my eyes! Maybe to purple or s'mthin!"

"I know nothing! Also, stop dropping those apostrophes in everywhere, just because you see something on the internet doesn't mean you should emulate it. I looked at lots of slang for my etymology report for Programming 2, and this thread of slang uses the worst grammar since early century lolcat and chatspeak!" Replied Husky, peeved.

Cooro rolled his eyes. "Why so anal? But seriously, I bet you know something? Right? I bet you've at least _heard_ of something!"

"Well…" Husky rubbed a blotchy marking on his neck thoughtfully. "I did hear a bit… Father thinks that, if all goes well, they should be licensed to sell within two months, and have things in store by another two months. _But… _ Nana, eye color changes are probably all you're going to get, I suspect all the really good gene mods will exclusively owned by the government, like they are now, and even if they weren't, you're a minor, so you couldn't get _any _gene mods without parental consent."

"Poo!" Nana pouted. "My parents are some of those people who are like 'technology is gonna kill us all! Save yourselves!' I'm never going to get them to agree to it!" She rubbed her own marking, which was on her back, something that she usually did when she was annoyed.

The markings were actually fairly common; one in maybe ninety children had them. They had been appearing seemingly at random, for the past three years, the only requirements, it seemed, to get them were to be between the ages of five and sixteen, although there was the occasional outlier. They did not seem to be spreading, or even harmful, which puzzled scientists. Some claimed they were mutations caused by the increased number of cosmic rays the failing atmosphere had let through before scientists had patched it in '23 with the chemical jokingly called "phlebotium." Others hypothesized it was due to the phlebotium itself, and these were only some of hundreds of theories. The general consensus was that they weren't harmful, so scientists largely ignored them.

Nana turned to Cooro. "What about your guardian?"

Cooro, who had been raised by a nun in the orphanage near his original school, shrugged. "She'd probably be first in line. She tries to hide it, but we're pretty sure she's a furry."

Nana and Husky looked at him strangely. He held his serious expression for almost a minute, before breaking in to a smile and laughing. "Hah! Looks on your faces! But seriously, I doubt she'd care too much, as long as she thought we'd be safe."

Nana and Husky participated in the sport of synchronized eye rolling. One of the first things they had learned about Cooro after they had met him was that he was an amazing liar, even though, with such innocent, honest looks, he seemed like a model child. They still gave him the benefit of doubt though, he'd said bizarre things before, and an uncommon number had turned out to be true.

Their school tags beeped telling them that their meals were ready. They made their way to the rotating chain that carried food, grabbed their trays, and went back to their table.

As usual, Cooro ate his dessert first, apple pie. "Mmmm! I can't fathom how students operated before their food was made by robots!"

Nana giggled and Husky rolled his eyes, before saying "Cooro, you know full well we're the first school in the state, and one of the first schools in the nation to have this kind of setup."

Cooro grinned impishly. "Don't spoil this for me Husky."

They finished their meal in relative silence as their lunch period was almost gone- they only got twenty minutes per day. They said their goodbyes before leaving for their next block.

**~oOo~**

**A/N: (please read this)**

**I've decided to start a new story for the heck of it. I **_**am **_**looking for a beta, and any offers would be greatly appreciated. This is, as previously stated, AU, so I've taken some liberties concerning character's birthdays, although they are still the same relative ages, (Cooro is 13, Nana is 12, Husky is 12, and Senri is 17) Please review, I need help with my writing, and suggestions would be appreciated, I am writing this nearly planless, and by the seat of my pants :3 Just a reminder- if you see a misplaced fic and its already been warned, report it- deathfox can't do this by him/herself. If it hasn't been warned, tell the author how to move it, and hopefully either they will or they'll be reported. Thank you!**

**A/C: Author's commentary (optional)**

**There is futureslang here- look how much language has changed even over the last five years. However, as I didn't want to constantly throw in apostrophes, I gave the crew a reason not to use it. This is, in fact, third person omniscient narrator, although if you have a beef with that, and explain why I shouldn't use it, I can change it. These classes may seem a bit advanced for middle schoolers, but I decided that, as technology grows better, people are able to learn more and more, and remember, this is a school specifically geared towards more intelligent kids. I'll explain why Senri is here later. I've inserted several references here to people "in the know." Hope someone catches them! As far as I know, there is no school called "Central Academy" in Chicago, but I wouldn't know, since I don't live there. The school is, however, loosely based on where I go to. The Chicago metro area is not incredibly large, but I'm assuming exponential, unregulated, population growth here, which will be a problem in the future. Thanks for reading! Until next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Human Anatomy

Date: March 22nd, 2031

~oOo~

The automatic door slid soundlessly to the side and Cooro stepped through the opening into his art class, specifically, figure drawing II. He slipped his sketchbook and pencil into his pocket and picked up a drawing tablet from a table positioned near the entrance. He walked to the second row, pulled out the black ergonomic chair out from under the table, and sat down. He booted up his tablet and connected it to the school fiber-optic cable system. The opening bell rung, but instead of a teacher walking out into the front of the classroom to begin class, a projector turned itself on and targeted a large white board in the front of the room. It showed a large, black haired man laying partially upright on a hospital bed and wearing a patterned plastic gown.

"Hello, class. As you know, I'll be gone this week because I have an appendectomy. _However,_ class _will _go as planned today. Today, we're drawing human anatomy. Just to clarify, please _do _censor your pictures. I personally don't care if you do, but the district and your parents would throw a fit it they heard you weren't doing so. Your assignment was preloaded onto the tablets. I'm on the class chatroom if you have any questions. Begin."

Cooro's tablet automatically opened to the assignment.

"Draw a human, beginning with bones, and then add muscle, skin, hair, and shading. You will be graded on task completion and methodology, not on accuracy."

Cooro put his stylus to the screen and began drawing. An hour later, he was finished.

"Done!" Cooro raised his hand excitedly.

On the screen, his teacher checked his computer for a few seconds before nodding at him. "Very good, Cooro, you can free-draw for the rest of the class."

Taking advantage of the available tablet, Cooro opened an incomplete document and started drawing in it. As opposed to his usual lazy, free-time doodles, he worked with speed and precision. He started with a pre-made human drawing (a horizontal cross section), modified its features and dimensions slightly, and began drawing. With help from the internet, he drew correctly proportioned wings on the body, with detailed notes on where the vertebrae and muscles would connect, as well as modifications to the body itself- decreasing bone density, adding air sacs, rearranging internal organs.

After completing the picture, he emailed it to himself, and then checked his email to see whether it had come through with no issues. It had, just like all the other images he had emailed to himself, images not just of bird-men, but of cat-people, wolf-human hybrids, and many others, so many that his email was practically overflowing with them.

~oOo~

Nana's cooking class had young girls, like her, as a majority, but boys were common enough, making up eleven spots of the twenty-five person class. The class was arranged into six working areas, each with its own stove, sink, ingredients, utensils, and, yes, microwave. The chrome stations were arranged in a hexagonal pattern around a central unit, where the teacher, Mr. Thatcher, and his assistant, her friend Senri, sat. She shared her unit with two other cooks, one boy, who had sandy blond hair in a disorganized mess around his forehead and was about Cooro's height, and one thin athletic girl, who wore her red hair in four ponytails arranged diagonally around the back of her head, with three short ponytails, and one long one at the bottom. Today, they were baking one of her favorite foods, cake, from scratch.

Lyra, the girl, handed Nana a liter of flour while simultaneously mixing ingredients. Nana handed the mix to the boy, who was arranging dyes. He took the flour and duped it into a bowl while Nana poured milk into it. Nana checked the ingredient list before adding flavor.

Steps like this were being repeated across the classroom, and the room was a hive of frenetic activity. They had the entirety of the period, 85 minutes to prepare the cake, but even with the special ingredients, they would just barely have time to arrange the batter before they had to put it into the oven, the cakes took about an hour to cook, although they were comparatively easy to decorate afterwards.

Ten minutes later, they had finished arranging the batter, and had inserted it into the large oven. They were one of the first groups done, even though they were one of the groups of three. Across the room and by the door, one of the slower groups was receiving help from Senri.

Senri was one of the students who commuted to class. He arrived every day near the end of lunch, and then stayed for the next two blocks before being picked up. He only had three classes at Central, woodworking III, metalworking II, and engineering II, but since the buss from his school only came through once a day because of how far away it was, the school administrators gave him something to do, namely, being a cooking assistant, on the third period every two days.

Nana lounged around for the next hour, spending most of the time chatting with Lyra. She tried to pull the other person at her workstation away from his e-reader, but, as always, she failed.

"I hear he's was bullied at his old school- by some popl'r girl named Maggie," whispered Nana conspiratorially, leaning over the counter.

Lyra jabbed Nana. "Don't goss'p! He can hear you!"

Nana rolled her eyes. "Of course he c'n hear us, that's the point! I'm gett'n tired of him ignoring us, hopefully he'll _actually respond _for once!" Nana said, directing her words partially at the boy. "I don't even know his name, he barely speaks!"

Lyra frowned before sighing. "Nana, he never responds because he _was _bullied. I was at his school, so I should know. Cooro was at his school to." Lyra frowned a bit at saying Cooro's name. "Seriously, just leave him alone."

Nana blushed, repentant. "Oh." She turned to the boy, shamefaced. "I'm sorry, I won't bother you anymore."

The boy looked away from his e-book, slightly embarrassed. "It's fine, just…" The boy turned back to his book, clearly uncomfortable.

Nana and Lyra resumed chatting. Twenty minutes later, the cake was done. They passed with full marks.

**A/N (please read):**

**Hopefully Nana's speech is understandable, but please tell me if it is still hard to comprehend. Any help with my writing is vastly appreciated, and I am still looking for a beta. I hope you enjoyed this!**

**A/C (optional):**

**Futureslang strikes again! There is a lot less of it than in chapter one, but that's because in chapter 1 Cooro and Nana were deliberately overusing it (and misusing it) to annoy Husky :3. As for how it works, you remove the last **_**single **_**vowel (no pairs of vowels that change how another is pronounced) that is **_**in front of **_**a consonant from a word (and replace it with an apostrophe, if you're typing.) Obviously, there are some exceptions (like c'ler) Abbreviations that we already use are generally thrown in to, in an effort to further condense speech. The frequency at which the speaker does this is entirely up to them, although, like chatspeak, if you do it too much your speech (and/or typing) w'll bec'me obn'xiously h'rd to read. ;3**

**Yes, the girl is Lyra, Cooro's old friend. The boy is one of the child gladiators from Maggie Vil. I don't remember his name, and I don't think he even got one, so I'll wait until needed to give him a name.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Proposition 732

Date: March 2**1**nd, 2031

**(A/N: I checked a calendar and it turns out that in 2031, March 22****nd**** would actually be a Saturday. I don't want to go back and change the previous chapters as I don't believe a date change is worth a re-upload, so please pretend that the previous chapters have the same date on them as this one. Thank you!)**

~oOo~

Cooro waved at Husky, well, at the car Husky was in, as it pulled away from the curb. Cooro actually walked home, but he enjoyed chatting with Husky until he was picked up.

In the car, Husky turned away from the window as Cooro receded from view. He doubted Cooro saw him waving (the windows on this car, like all of his father's cars, were tinted black) but he felt an odd sense of contentment knowing he at least waved. After all, it was the thought that counted.

As the professional chauffeur maneuvered gracefully through the heavy traffic, he sunk into the seat. He inserted his wireless earbuds and turned them on. With the volume set to a controlled, bearable level, he receded from reality, ignoring the world around him as he listened to the true classics- Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Dizzy Gillespie. He only came out of his trance like state when they had reached his house.

His house was a fairly large condominium located in an upper-middle class suburb. It was a deep cherry red and made out of partially brick, but mostly plastic and glass.

He opened the car door and stepped out, thanking the chauffeur almost inaudibly, before walking up steps placed to the left of the driveway. Before he could reach for the knob himself, his aunt opened it from the inside.

"Come in Husky! Daisy's prepared dinner already." Daisy was Crystala's adopted daughter, and had the habit of making dinner early. Even though the car ride to his house was three quarters of an hour because of the heavy traffic of the overcrowded city, it was still only four p.m. He put up with it, because on Fridays, like today, his father brought him to his mansion because he got custody for the weekend, and if Husky ate dinner before that, he wouldn't have to have dinner with his father, and dinners with his father were usually tense, awkward affairs with the man simultaneously trying to keep the peace between Husky, Keane, and Trace, all illegitimate sons he had fathered and got custody of for the weekends, and read the news.

Husky placed his stuff on a couch before sitting down at the table. He clasped his hands as Crystala and Daisy prayed. While Husky was agnostic, Crystala and Daisy were of a protestant denomination (he didn't know which one) and his mother had taught him to respect the religions of other people.

After dinner, they each went their separate ways. Crystala had a teleconference, Husky needed to arrange his stuff, and Daisy, well, he had no idea what Daisy was doing, but he had a sneaking suspicion that it involved mushy fanfiction- it would explain why she and Nana had been so friendly the few times they had met.

Husky carried his bag up the stairs to his room on the second floor and deposited his belongings on his bed. First, he took out the things he didn't feel his father needed to see (school projects, graded assignments, and notes.) This left only his homework (for next week) and a book he needed to read for English. He stuffed in three sets of clothes (one just in case) and his laptop (not one of the school assigned ones they made you use in class, of course.) He also put in toiletries, and a few other assorted objects. Once he considered his bag ready, he zipped it up and went downstairs to watch TV.

Normally, Husky didn't watch TV, but Fridays, when he didn't have much else to do except wait for his father, he made an exception. Thankfully, on Fridays the Simpsons were on, and satire was one of the few things worth watching on television. Nobody had expected the Simpsons to last so long, but something about the dysfunctional suburban family had resonated with every generation that had passed its way.

About mid-way through the show, Husky heard some pounding at the door. Guessing that it was a chauffeur sent by his father to pick him up, Husky grabbed his things and waved goodbye to Daisy and Crystala, who were also watching the show with him.

He opened the door. Instead of finding a chauffeur like usual, his father stood in front of him. He was a rather imposing man; He stood at about six feet tall, and wore a neatly pressed black suit and tie.

"Hello Husky," he said comfortably.

Confused, Husky asked "why are you here?"

"I'm picking you up, of course. The chauffeur is picking up my lead researcher. Come on, I need to be at the mansion for a meeting." Husky's father turned around and began walking towards his car, a sleek, all-electric sports car.

Not having any more questions, Husky followed. The doors to the car slid backwards, and he got into the passenger seat, the only seat other than the driver's seat in the car. His father started the car up and accelerated into the suburban street. Husky had expected the car ride to be awkward, but, mercifully, his father stayed quiet the entire way to his mansion. As his father parked in the roundabout in front of his large, ivory colored mansion he informed Husky that dinner would be at six (if he hadn't already eaten, which he had) and that his brothers were going to be dropped off by their mothers in fifteen to thirty minutes, in case Husky wanted to "Hang out" with them (hardly likely, Husky scoffed privately.)

After entering the mansion, Husky made a beeline towards his room. Once in his room, he locked the door from the inside. He allowed himself to feel some sadness. The mansion, strangely enough, was one of the few things that still reminded him of his mother, who had died two years ago due to cancer. He didn't know why the mansion reminded him of her- when his mother had been alive, they had lived in a suburb on the opposite side of the city. It may have been that even back then, when his father got custody (which mainly happened on holidays) he still had to come to this mansion.

Swallowing down the sadness, he grabbed his homework from the bag and started doing it. Homework was one of the few things teachers still made students due on paper. They claimed it was to help students practice calligraphy, but he was pretty sure it was because teachers were a sucker for tradition.

In the middle of doing homework he began to hear voices coming from a vent by his bed. Curious, Husky set down his homework and put his ear to the vent. The vent was connected, of course, to the entire vent system, but what made it special (in relation to the other vents in the mansion) was that, if you listened closely, you could hear conversations being carried out in the room directly below, which just happened to be the room his father had all his meetings in.

"_Hello, Mr. Greena. I'm delighted you could make it." _This was the voice of Husky's father.

"_Thank you, sir. I've mostly been working with the scientific aspect of the Soul project, so I am a bit behind the legal aspect it. Can you inform me?" _This was the voice of the man Husky presumed to be the "Mr. Greena" his father had been talking to.

"_Most certainly, although I would have thought my head researcher would have at least tried to stay up to date with something that directly affected him, although, I suppose you do have an excuse, I hear that you were having some testing issues with the prototype, correct?"_

"_Correct."_

"_As for proposition 732, it is very close to being passed, the legislators are dithering a little, but I have no doubt they will pass it- I suspect they are only trying to shift blame from themselves in case it goes wrong, which is to be expected. Just be sure to have Soul project done before proposition 732 is passed, I want to be seen as a leader in commercial genetic modifications."_

"_About the Soul project, sir… There may have been a leak early in the project, while we were still testing out the more complex "Plus" version. Unfortunately, all the research concerning the Plus version was destroyed in an effort to prevent a scandal, so we have no way of knowing."_

"_Figure it out Fly, I pay you to deal with the science, so make sure you do."_

**A/N: (please read) Different sources each give Fly a different name, but I am going to use Fly Greena as his name, as opposed to Fry Greena or Fry Greena Aight. I've done a bit of research, but I have yet to find the name of Husky's father on the internet (although I haven't had a chance to re-read the manga in a while) so if anyone knows it, please tell me.**

**A/C: (optional) Originally, this was going to be longer, but I just couldn't resist leaving this chapter on such a deliciously note. I am beginning to formulate a basic plot, so chapters should grow longer from here, but there is still a lot that in uncertain, so I would appreciate you guys leaving suggestions in your reviews. If you suggestion makes it into the story, I will credit you.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Breakfast Pizzas (awkward flavored)

Date: Saturday, March 22nd, 2031

~oOo~

Husky hadn't gotten much sleep last night. After His father's announcement, he had been too stunned to hear the rest of the conversation, or even finish his homework. Yes, he had been expecting the news about proposition 732, but he very much so hadn't been expecting that things could have already gone wrong with the process of creating the gene cocktails. _Wait… _Husky didn't know if the "Plus" version, whatever that was, had gone wrong, but if it had… Did it have anything to do with the blotch rash-like markings people had been getting? With a start, Husky remembered that he had one of these markings too. Husky shivered while rubbing his own mark unconsciously. No, that couldn't be true. Even a leak could only affect a small area, the rashes, something that was happening through the entire world, couldn't have been caused by something his father's company had done… right?

Husky shook his head, dispelling his fears. He got out of bed and changed into shorts and a white, short sleeved shirt. It was 62 degrees Fahrenheit out, colder with the wind chill, but he didn't plan on leaving the house anyways. He went down to the kitchen, hoping to get there early enough to avoid his half-brothers, but no such luck- by the time he got down there Keane, Straton, Jake, and Emile where already there.

For whatever reason, the rest of his half-brothers got along fairly well, but they all seemed to hate him, with the possible exception of Straton (11 years old), who he didn't mind. Truthfully, hate was kind of a strong word. They didn't really go out of their way to bully him, but basically whenever they saw each other, they fought. Straton typically did nothing, he sometimes seemed even sympathetic to Husky, but Jake and Emile, who were heavyset twins, thirteen year olds, gleefully taunted him about his somewhat effeminate features. Keane helped Jake and Emile bully him when he was with them, although when Keane was alone with him, he ignored Husky, and Husky got the feeling that he only bullied him to save face with his younger brothers (Keane was fourteen.)

Husky resigned himself to their taunts and went to the counter that was left of the table to pick up his food. Just as he expected, Jake and Emile had already took his food, which, from what the others were eating, looked to be some variety of breakfast pizza (which was basically omelet on a pizza crust.)

Jake catcalled at him. "Hey, girlie! Looks like there isn't any food left, I guess you're going to have to cook your own like a proper domestic!" Emile high-fived Jake and they laughed uproariously. Keane was deep in conversation with Straton, and didn't notice.

Husky ignored his sexist jibe. From experience, he knew contradicting him or Emile would only goad them on. He opened the refrigerator and grabbed a frozen breakfast pizza. He put it in the microwave and set it for two minutes, like it told him to on the package.

"Ignoring us girlie? Are you too scared to talk back?" This was Emile, who had finished his pizza and now was covering for Jake, who was eating his. Emile and Jake weren't very smart boys, but they were efficient in their taunting of him. They had light brown, almost blond, hair, and black, bushy eyebrows. They looked nearly the same, although Emile had a small scar above his left eyebrow that Husky had given him nearly two years ago, when Husky was still more naïve about how things worked at the mansion. He had managed to bloody their lips and give them both black eyes, but they had broken his wrist the first time they fought. After that, they still fought, but made sure to keep it discreet. Their father didn't seem to particularly care about their children, but became very mad when something interrupted his work, especially something as trivial as a mere hospital visit.

After the pizza had been heated up, Husky ate it at the counter, not wanting to sit at the table. Emile and Jake had lost interest after several dozen taunts, all about how feminine he looked. Husky was surprised they hadn't taunted him about his voice, but it made sense; they must have figured out he didn't actually care about the insult, and told all his friends to call him Husky, he even thought of himself as Husky and not Myrrah.

He put his plate in the sink and walked back down the corridor towards his room, Emile and Jake making a few parting jabs as he went.

~oOo~

Senri plucked a few strings on his acoustic guitar. He was lying on his bed, with his headphones on his head, although he didn't have any music on. He usually did this when he didn't have anything he needed to do- he had already finished his homework (not that he had much) and his chores (those, he had lots of.) Finally deciding on a song, he turned on his tablet, and flicked through his music until finding the song "_Final Countdown_" by Europa. He pressed the virtual "play" button and plucked along on his guitar to the song.

His room was sparsely furnished, and contained very little technology. It was square and painted a bright white. His bed lied against a wall, with the head of his bed in the corner of the room farthest away from the door. He had a closet by the door, which contained his clothes, and a much smaller closet opposite the door and to the left of the only window in his room. It contained the rest of his belongings, and his sword, a 12th birthday gift, hung above it. He mostly used it to cut wood. Although he had seen enough videos that he would be covered in case he wanted to use it against a burglar, or the like. Apart from his six-year old tablet, the only other modern (relatively speaking) item in his room was a bar of fluorescent lights attached to the ceiling.

The song switched to "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey, another one of his favorite songs, so he changed the position of his left hand slightly to more easily finger the song, which was in a different key. Senri's house was empty, his father had died while hiking with him two years ago and his mom was out buying groceries, but Senri didn't feel lonely. He was content with just the music going through his ears and his guitar in his hands. Unlike other people, he didn't need to be constantly entertained.

~oOo~

Nana laid down on the stretched chair/couch/bed thing that her therapist had provided for her. The chair was old, red, and comfortable, and it was the only thing she liked about these meetings. Several years ago, she had finally been brave enough to call the police when her father had come home drunk and even angrier than usual. After the police had come, they restrained her father and put him in jail, later successfully trying him for domestic abuse. Ever since, she had had to go to these meetings with her therapist; she had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, and the state had issued her a therapist. Only Husky, who had his own therapist, knew about it, although she was pretty sure Cooro had some suspicions. Senri… was Senri. She wasn't sure what he thought.

She smothered a yawn as the therapist talked. This was one of the few situations where she actually had to _act _cheerful. Usually, it wasn't an act. She knew that she needed help, and that repressing the memories were probably bad, but she was just so _bored. _She'd much rather be online, writing fanfiction, reading manga, or even shooting zombies in the face, if that was an option. There were so many things she could have done in the ninety minutes her sessions with the therapist took. She doubted the state would have even cared if she wasn't smart. The government was in a much better state than twenty years ago- lots of the national debt had been paid off and global warming wasn't an issue (although gas had pretty much run out, and deforestation was still a problem) but the world population was still very, very high, so the U.S. had a lot more people it needed to take care of, especially since, government officials were seriously considering annexing Iran **(A/N: the middle east is going to be a trouble spot for a long time, it was already causing trouble for the U.S. in the cold war**) and making it the fifty-second state, only six years after Puerto Rico had decided to become a state.

But that wasn't her concern. She was content where she was at, living with her mom in their two bedroom apartment. She just wished her therapist would go away.

~oOo~

"In your face! In your _face!_" Lyra mocked Cooro. Cooro rolled his eyes.

"Seriously Lyra, it's just a video game."

"You're just saying that 'cause you _lost_! Now pass on the controller, its winner stays."

Shrugging, Cooro gave the joystick to the boy leftwards of him on the couch. Cooro, Lyra, and several other children of the orphanage were playing two player Galaga. The game was archaic, but still managed to be fun. The nuns who ran the orphanage believed that modern games, with their hyper realistic graphics and in-depth gameplay, especially games using virtual-reality interfaces, corrupted the youth. However, they knew that the children they cared for would figure out how to play videogames, so they made a compromise. The children wouldn't play unauthorized video games, and in return, the nuns would donate their game systems, with their simplistic graphics and minimum gore, to the children. As a result, they had a number of vintage game systems, Ataris, Famicoms, Gameboys, and even one or two arcade games. Obviously, when they had time, the nuns would play too.

Cooro rather liked it in the orphanage. His mother had died in childbirth in a back alley to an inexperienced midwife, and no one knew who his father was, so the nuns and the other children where the only family he had known.

Of course, Cooro wasn't against being adopted. If the right people (or person) came around and wanted to adopt him, and he liked them, he wouldn't have any objection. Meanwhile, he was enjoying himself. He was perfectly fine with how things were.

A/N (please read): I was going to ask this next chapter, but I decided to ask this now so you guys would have more time to vote. I have two possible plots in mind for this fic: a civil war or an apocalypse, however, I'm not entirely sure which to pick. I currently lean towards civil war; however, I will probably go with what you guys vote for. Vote in a review or a PM, I'll probably need the votes within the next three chapters. Thank you!

A/C (optional): While writing this, I realized that every one of the main characters is primarily dealing with a female authority figure. I'm not sure why I did that, but whatever. Except for Husky, I also made them fairly content, which I figured would be the case. Also, when I was planning to have this chapter deal only with Husky's part, I had wanted to call it "The Morning After." I still do, but discretion won out over my urge to make dirty jokes. As far as Senri goes, when I checked on the wikia, I found that his father was killed by Amurai (the mad bear) but I didn't see anything about his mother, so in this fic she is alive. Husky doesn't know exactly what Christian denomination Crystala and daisy are because he goes to his father's mansion during the weekend, when they go to church, and he doesn't particularly feel like asking. I know that's last chapter stuff, but it was bugging me that I hadn't given an explanation. By the way, I'm also taking suggestions for Husky's father's name. Thanks!


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Mutagenic

Date: Monday, March 24th, 2031

**(A/N: Slight time skip here)**

~oOo~

Nana checked her phone for the time. It was exactly 7:20, which meant she still had twenty five minutes before school started. Perfect. This would give her ample time to talk with her friends _and _get to class. She wasn't actually sure if Cooro was here- sometimes he was a bit late because something had come up at the orphanage and none of the nuns were available to drive him to school, but she knew Husky would probably be here. He was usually early anyways, but he made a special effort to be early on Mondays- from what she had gathered, he didn't like being at his dad's house and made sure to be ready even earlier on Mondays so he wouldn't have to deal with his brothers.

She stepped into the school. The commons area was congested even this early in the morning, as people who had longer commutes usually left their homes earlier to make sure they got here before traffic started seriously clogging up the highways. After looking around for a while, she spotted Cooro and Husky leaning on a wall, talking.

She made her way through the crowd until she reached them. She gave a slight bow. "Arrigato, Husk, Arrigato, Cooro!" She really wasn't sure why she did that, the fad was long past, but out of habit she always greeted her friends like that. Cooro didn't mind, and Husky was only mildly annoyed, and since Husky was always annoyed she had decided that it didn't really make any difference. "Did you hear-"

"-about how prop 732 passed? Yeah, everyone knows that by now." Husky cut her off. "Actually, that's what Cooro and I were talking about."

"Yeah, I never expected it to pass, well, I expected it to pass, but not so soon, I thought it would take longer, y'know? Its kinda weird really, we hear that politicians were talking about it for months, and then suddenly it passes congress in a weekend? It's just-"

"Cooro, stop." Husky cut off Cooro before he could ramble farther.

Nana's eyes lit up. "Hey, Husky, d'you know anything about this? Like… something special?"

"Well… yes, but I'm not gonna tell you here… You can guess why."

"Well okay then," said Nana. There was a brief lull in the conversation.

Cooro broke the silence (as usual.) "Hey, what would you want out of a gene mod? I'd love to have wings! Flying sounds so cool!"

"Well… I'd like my eyes to be purple. That'd be cool…" Nana wanted wings too, but was embarrassed to admit it.

Husky rolled his eyes. "Cooro, you're not going to get wings. At least Nana is being realistic."

"Whatever Husky, this is hypothetical. What would you get?" said Cooro.

"Well… If I could get anything… I suppose I would get gills," said Husky, unconsciously scratching the back of his neck.

"Hey, gills would be at the same place as your marking! Did that give you the inspiration?" Cooro chimed in.

Husky removed his hand from his neck, surprised that Cooro had noticed before he had. He thought for a bit, before saying "No. If I were a genetic engineer, I would put gills closer to my lungs, probably on my chest or back."

"Really? Where would you put wings then?" Nana asked, curious.

"Well, it depends on the kind of wings. If you're talking about bird wings, I would change someone's arms to wings, as that would be easier to design, and people are already used to using their arms, but I doubt people would want to lose their hands, so out of their upper back or shoulder would probably be where I choose, although then I would have to re-wire their brains a little so they wouldn't be confused by the extra limbs." Husky paused momentarily, before continuing. "It would be pretty much the same thing if we were talking about bat wings. As far as insect wings go, their wings vary insane amounts between each species, and even between different individuals, so there wouldn't be much point in talking about that, and either way, insect wings can't really be scaled up, there's a reason even the biggest insects only get so large, exoskeletons don't react well to being scaled up."

"Wow, you really seem to know lots about this, how come?" This was Nana again.

"My father owns a big pharmaceutical company, remember? He mostly deals with the business side of things, but he keeps inviting this scientist over, Fly Greena, and I've overheard enough of what they say to make some… educated guesses."

Neither Husky nor Nana noticed Cooro flinch slightly at the mention of Fly.

"Educated guesses?" Nana gave a sly smile. "What have you heard? Do you know anything about a gene mod being worked on?"

Husky gave a quick shake of his head. "No. I've heard a little bit about one, but it didn't really make any sense." A fleeting look of worry passed his face, as he remembered the possible leak of whatever the prototype gene modification was.

"Can you tell us what you heard? Maybe having multiple people trying to figure this out would be a good idea." Cooro asked, curious.

Already having decided to hide the information from his friends, Husky responded "no, if I tell you, you might accidentally tell someone else, and after that, the information could get on the internet, and I bet my father would be pissed if he tracked the information to me, so I'd really rather not say until I figure something out for sure."

Cooro and Nana weren't pleased with Husky's response, but they saw the logic behind it, and decided not to press him about it, and they turned the conversation to other topics.

~oOo~

"That was fast." Cooro slid into one of the plastic seats at the cafeteria, completing the foursome (Husky, Nana, and Senri where already there.)

"Indeed it was," replied Husky drolly. Senri and Nana nodded in agreement. It had barely been barely a day since proposition 732 had passed congress (and the president, of course,) and a company had not only had one of their products jump through all the hoops necessary to be commercially sold, they already begun _advertising _it! It was only a simple eye color changer, something that could already easily be done by contacts, but it still felt like a momentous change. Some religions were already taking a stance on it, although, admittedly, few looked like they were going to be outwardly against it, probably remembering how they had been forced to change their stance against contraception after support for it had grown too much.

"I'm gonna get it!" Nana said excitedly.

"But I though your parents were against gene modding?" asked Cooro.

"Well… they are, but my dad's in jail and my mom… well, she would probably try to stop me, but if I got it before she could stop me, she probably wouldn't make me reverse it, I'm not even sure if you can. Remember, it's easier to ask for forgiveness then to ask for forgiveness," Nana quoted from… wherever the expression came from. She rapidly switched the topic before Cooro could ask why her dad was in jail. He had already known her dad was incarcerated, but Nana still didn't feel comfortable telling him why.

~oOo~

The gene mod was released Wednesday. By that Friday, Husky could tell that a significant portion of the school had the gene mods. By next Tuesday, Nana was one of them. Most of the modifications were subtle, slight changes to the original color, or a change to another believable color, but some of the changes were stranger. Black irises, totally white eyes, as well as the occasional honey-amber-yellow that he just _knew _was inspired by the Twilight series (just _how _had that series survived so long?) Nana's eyes, thankfully, were a pale blue, a rare, but still believable color.

Nana complained about a dreadful itching right around her markings, but put them down to side effects. Husky was more suspicious. He had done some more snooping, and it seemed like one of the possible symptoms from a gene mod his father had developed and planned to give to the public, but his thought that this was unlikely- Nana's mod had been developed by another company, even though it used the same non-patented framework that had been developed in 2019. It was also possible that this was an unintended side effect, but that was even more worrying. He truly hoped that the itching was unrelated.

**A/N: Earlier, I asked you guys to vote on either civil war or apocalypse as a plot direction. I've decided to do civil war, partially because that was the only thing people voted on, but also because I realized that if I did that, then I would be able to do a civil war **_**and **_**an apocalypse. Anyways, thanks for your input, it's always welcome, and I'm always receptive to plot suggestions.**

**A/C: Please correct me if my Japanese is wrong, I know basically no Japanese, I just made Nana an otaku because I'm sure that most of the people who read +anima can identify to some extent (that includes me :3 ) Earlier, I said that Cooro had a single nun as a guardian. I decided (last chapter ^^') that this is unrealistic, so while I want to keep around the nun that raised Cooro in Canon, and she will be his primary guardian, I'd like to clarify that he **_**is **_**a ward of the state, and has other nuns to deal with too, he just doesn't deal with them as often.**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Quarantine

Monday, March 31st, 2031

**A/N: Before I forget… again… This story is CC-BY-SA-NC and is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Mukai Natsumi. Also, I think I mentioned this before, but I screwed up Senri's age, he should be 16, not 17, but I'll leave him at seventeen for simplicity. In this story, Rose will also be seventeen, Daisy will be 16, Keane will be 14, Kazana will be 18, and Sinon will be 13. I'll list off ages for any other non-original characters when I remember. Note: Some of the characters will have the same birthdate as in canon, but most won't.**

~oOo~

By the next Monday, Nana's itching had only gotten worse. Interestingly, instead of becoming irritated or a rash, her black markings, previously blotchy and rather indistinct, were becoming better defined against her pale skin, almost like a tattoo. While most of the other students seemed fine, Sinon, a kid Nana recognized from her cooking class, also reported itching and discomfort, as did Husky's cousin Daisy. Strangely, not only had each taken the eye color changing formula, they each had the same kind of marking that each of the four did, although each had theirs on a different part of their bodies.

Nana, ever the optimist, wasn't worried, or at least didn't act worried. "My markings itched even 'fore I got the eye color changer. I bet this itching is just 'cause some side effect irritated my marking, worst comes to worst, I can just have my markings surgically removed, I heard they can do that."

Husky had his mouth set in a grim line. "I don't think it's that simple. _Every_ person I've heard of that already had a marking and got a gene changer is reporting these side effects, not just ones who got the eye color changer. Jonathan, a kid from my English class, got one that changed his hair to be slightly wavy, and he is reacting the same way you are."

"But what if it isn't the markings causing this? What if the markings are just a sign that people with them aren't compatible with any kind, or at least most kinds of gene mods?" Cooro said. "It's not like people are really trying to figure out what the markings are."

"But what would have caused the markings, then? Even if it's a mutation, it wouldn't make sense for tens of thousands of kids to get basically the same mutation at the same time!" Nana replied.

Something stopped Husky from immediately agreeing with Nana. Suddenly, he remembered, his revelation accompanied by a sinking feeling in his stomach. "What if the markings _are _a gene mod, and they're conflicting with the ones being sold now?"

Nana was about to rebuff Husky when she realized that, this time, Husky wasn't just stating hypotheticals. Absolutely serious, she dropped her voice to nearly a whisper, before speaking. "Husky, you know something. Tell us what it is."

Husky opened his mouth, but before he could speak, the intercom came on over the lunchroom, immediately silencing most of the students. "If you have been experienced undue itching after undertaking a genetic modification, please report outside to the disease control vans. It is possible that you have contracted a disease that interferes with how your body processes changes to its DNA. Your family will be notified, and you will be excused from school. Necessary coursework will be e-mailed to you." The intercom clicked off, something the teachers had programmed it to do, even though it was fully digital.

Nana stood up, amidst surprised murmurs. "Hopefully this is nothing," she said, but the quaver in her otherwise confident voice gave her away.

Unexpectedly, Cooro and Husky also rose. Almost simultaneously, they chorused "I'm going with you."

Confused, Nana asked "why? You guys never said anything 'bout itching? I don't want you guys to get sick!"

Husky rolled his eyes. "Nana, if we were going to get sick, we would already be sick. I think this is a cover up for… well, I'll explain later."

They looked at Cooro. Cooro shrugged and said "If you're going, I'm going." His pronouncement wasn't out of character, but Husky and Nana couldn't shake the niggling feeling that he was hiding something.

"But wait, won't they know that you aren't sick?"

Husky shook his head. "No, I think I know what's going on, and they won't be able to verify that we're sick. Anyways, let's go, we're causing a scene."

They left the lunchroom and traveled down two flights of stairs to the ground story. After leaving the building through the main automatic double doors, they were surprised to see not just Sinon, the kid from Nana's cooking class, but also Senri, Daisy, and several other people they knew had a marking (and one that didn't.) Strangely, while most had gotten one of the available gene mods, they knew that several hadn't, including Senri, Sinon, and a maroon-headed girl called Jaen. Then again, Husky and Cooro hadn't been modded either. Maybe Sinon, Jaen, and Senri had had the same idea that they had.

Several masked men (or women, you really couldn't tell) wearing full body hazmat suits shepherded them into a white medical van, one of three. Thankfully, Senri was assigned the same van as them. Unlike normal hospital vans or ambulances, they didn't have medical equipment inside of them. They were bare except for two plastic benches attached to the long sides of the inside of the vans. Thankfully, the vans came with internet connections, so those with tablets or school laptops pulled them out.

Since, apparently, the vans weren't high priority; it took them a full forty minutes to get to their destination, a small hospital on the fringes of the city. As they left the back of the vehicle they noticed that several other identical vans were already parked outside, presumably from other schools. Away from the other vans, a media van for one of the internet news stations was also parked.

Cooro shot his hand up into the air, surprising everyone around him. "Hey, Husky! You never did tell us what you knew! Can you tell us now?"

Husky looked back at the small crowd Cooro's flamboyant question had caused. He exhaled loudly. "I don't think now is a good time for that." The crowd (and Cooro) looked visibly disappointed.

The masked people herded the group of children (and teenagers, natch) into the building. Interestingly enough, it looked exactly like what people visualized when they thought of quarantine ward. "This is very weird," a nasally voice called out from the back of the group.

"Hell yeah, Scooby-doo," another voice replied, amidst a few giggles.

The boy who made the original observation shook his head. "No, I mean _really _weird, like a gov't cover'p or something." The boy, a freshman, was infamous for his wonky conspiracy theories. Half the school thought he was crazy, and the other half thought he was a modern day Nostradamus. Actually, both halves thought he was crazy, but one half also thought he was right. "You!" He pointed at Husky, before continuing on in a loud orator's voice. "You know something! You were about to tell it to us! _Tell us!_" Unfortunately for the boy, as he got louder and more passionate, his voice got only more nasally and ridiculous, allowing Husky to brush off his comment easily.

"I don't think so. I _might _know something, but until I know for sure I'm not telling, unlike you, I _don't _want to look like an insane conspiracy theorist." Husky felt a little bad about brushing off the boy so callously, but felt it was necessary.

Behind him, he heard Nana say, in a weak voice. "I don't feel so good." He turned around just in time to see her close her eyes and start to fall over, catching her just in time. Scared, he called out to the Suits.

"Help! Help! Something's wrong." Even before he called out several Suits were rushing over. Two lifted her, as another two motioned for them to walk faster.

As they entered the building Cooro moved to the side taking advantage of the confusion to follow the Suits holding Nana. "Cover for me," He mouthed to Husky.

Husky hesitated for a second, but then nodded. "Okay," he mouthed back. Several other students noticed the exchange, but decided to keep quiet to watch what would happen. Unfortunately, before anything interesting could occur, they had to go through sliding double doors into a more brightly lit area, with about forty more children and teenagers in it. Husky knew of at least one seven year old with markings, but, except for a blue-haired eight year old girl, most of the children in the room were his age or older. He figured that, while sometimes vendors could be tricked, usually through forged signatures, to hand out the mods to people his age, it would take either a very clever seven or eight year old, or a very stupid vendor to get aforementioned seven or eight year old a gene mod. Some of the people in the room looked up at the newcomers, but most remained glued to their tablets or headsets.

Deciding to see what they were so focused on, Husky sat down, pulled out his laptop, and poked the touchscreen until reaching a news hub. On it, there were two live-streaming videos, both referencing "quarantine," and "mutant markings." Looking at their tags, he noticed that one of them was being streamed from Chicago. He immediately clicked on it. The camera was panning out, presumably to show both the reporter (in a hazmat suit) and, strangely, a man wearing a white lab coat, but no hazmat suit. Husky's stomach dropped as he recognized Fly. Looking around the room, he noticed that some commotion seemed to be going on off-screen. Suddenly, Cooro darted out crossing the camera's field of view. He traveled across the room and into one of the plastic quarantine stalls. Strangely, there didn't seem to be a door or other restrictive entrance- an entire wall wasn't there, which Husky though was suspicious- wasn't the entire point of a quarantine ward to separate its occupants from the outside world?

~oOo~

Cooro popped his head up just high enough to see through the window into the… well… quarantined area. He thought this quarantined area within a quarantined building was kind of redundant, but then again, he wasn't an architect or immunologist. Thankfully, neither the Suits nor the suited reporter noticed him. He carefully pushed the passcode into the door's lock he had seen one of the suits put in. Thankfully, that was the only form of verification to enter the room. The door slid open with a barely perceptible whoosh, and he was in. Carefully he crept around the walls, then Darted into Nana's stall. Truthfully, the room was well lit and there was no cover, so it was only due to the distracting reporter that Cooro got in unnoticed, but he enjoyed pretending he was a secret agent.

Nana was lying on the bed, calmly unconscious. Noticing that her heart rate was bizarrely high (at least for an unconscious person,) Cooro checked the other readouts on the computer. Her other vitals were also abnormal. Her Temperature was 44 degrees Celsius, which he knew was about 110 Fahrenheit, Her brain activity was really high (at least it looked that way on the graph,) and she weighed 27 kilograms, which after doing some mental math, Cooro figured out was.. 60 pounds? Cooro hadn't noticed her losing weight recently, but even if she had, 60 pounds sounded way too low. Either the instruments were wrong, or… Cooro had a sinking feeling in his stomach.

Nana began to twitch, as Cooro looked upon her worryingly. Then, she began to shake side to side. Cooro hesitated slightly, but then ran out of the stall, scaring the living sh- ***cough*** bejeezus out of the reporter, cameraman, suits, and Fly. "Help something's wrong!" The suit started to yell as Cooro, but Fly stopped him.

"Escort him out." Fly blinked twice and swept his hand in front of his face, as if wiping a window. "Actually, he stays." Fly's face broke into a wide grin. "Hello Cooro."

Cooro forced himself to smile. "Hi Fly."

Fly pushed his hand across the air again. "I see you were right, something is wrong." He walked authoritatively into Nana's stall, the reporter and the Suit following him in confusion.

Inside, Nana was thrashing on her bed. "What's going-" Cooro began to ask. Suddenly Nana sat up, her eyes shooting open.

Then black wings sprouted from her back, tearing through her layered dress.

Cooro, the reporter, the Suit, and even Fly stood blinking. Nana panted uncomfortably.

Fly sighed, and turned to the reported. "I believe I have some things to explain."

**A/N: Special thanks to ****StarburstAwesomeness**** for giving me the idea to send scientists to the school; my plotline isn't going to be what you suggested, but your suggestion is helping me move the story along :)**

**A/C: As you may be able to tell, I've never been in or even seen a quarantine ward, so I had to make stuff up. On the plus side, since this isn't really a quarantine ward anyways (I'll explain later) anything I get wrong will still be right for the purposes of the building. Cooro converting from metric to customary is because, while, as Americans, we'd be too stubborn to fully change to the metric system anytime soon, but in the future (at least in this fic) anything regarding serious medicine, science, or engineering is in metric. If you couldn't tell, Fly has a computer display on his glasses. He could have gotten the contact lens version, but he thinks he looks cooler with glasses (and let's face it- he totally does.) Next chapter will be a mini-chapter (less than 1000 words.) You'll see why. Anyways, thanks for reading!**


	7. Interlude

Chapter 7: Interlude

March 31st, 2031

~oOo~

Fly looked straight ahead, directly at the slim, grey, news camera. He hesitated slightly while opening his mouth, but talked smoothly afterwards. Large portions of the western hemisphere watched as he spoke.

"What you see today is the completion of the Soul Plus project. Thank you, and have a nice day."

Fly turned around and briskly left the room, as everyone else in the room gaped at him.

~oOo~

During these events, on little watched television channels, the president of the United States made an announcement. "After decades of development, the Space Defense Initiative, more commonly known as 'Star Wars' is finally operational. Our anti-nuclear satellite system is now fully operational and is ready to shoot down any and all hostile nuclear or thermonuclear, missiles, whether they are aimed at the United States or one of our allies. These satellites are a purely defensive sequence, and this is not a pre-amble to war, but if any nation attacks us with said nuclear or thermonuclear explosives, we will respond in kind, whether or not they manage to breach our defense system."

The Seal of the president was shown, and regular programming was returned to. During the time it aired, the president's statement had approximately twenty five thousand viewers. By the end of the week, the youtube video of the speech had over three hundred million views.

**A/N: Sorry for the short chapter, I had originally planned for this to be ~800 words. I'll make it up by posting the next chapter soon!**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Reform

April 3rd, 2031

**edit: Formatting issues (hopefully) fixed.**

~oOo~

"Scientists are still trying to explain what happened, but there is no concrete evidence for any one theory. Several gene modification companies have been slapped with lawsuits, but most lawsuits have ended up being settled out of court, with the suing parent or guardian getting the promise of the offending company to pay for any treatment involving health complications caused by the modifications. So far, no complications have happened, but that hasn't stopped parents and legislators from condemning any and all genetic modification. Unfortunately, their laundry lists of modifications to be banned include GM crops, which feed the vast majority of the people on this planet."

Nana's civics teacher continued droning on in her cheery, flowery voice. Normally, Nana wouldn't have paid any attention to anything her teacher said, but this time, these events directly impacted her! Some apprehension lurked in her gut, but it was mostly overridden by excitement. Yes, the mutation could possibly kill her (something she didn't dwell on much,) but she could fly! Or, at least, she thought she could. She hadn't actually tried to because, truthfully, she was more than a little embarrassed about her status as a mutant. Nana liked feeling included, and her... ailment, for lack of a better word, was counterproductive to her goals.

"You'll be expected to write and turn in a one page paper either explaining why new laws should or shouldn't be created to further regulate genetic modification by Wednesday next week."

The bell rung mere moments after her teacher finished speaking. Nana gathered her laptop and textbook into her backpack, before standing up from her desk. She was one of the last people out of the room, which meant that there was already a crowd outside in the hallways. She walked through the whitewashed halls quickly, dodging other students. After climbing up several flights of stairs and crossing nearly the entire building, she finally made it to the top floor, where her English class was at. She checked her phone. Only twenty seconds until the bell rung! Forgoing her usual drinking fountain break, she made a beeline straight for her classroom. Before she could enter the classroom, a tall, blonde, boy of twelve or thirteen stepped in front of her, blocking her path. "Ummm... Could you get out of my way?" Nana asked.

"I don't think so," he sneered imperiously. The bell rung.

Nana's confusion became annoyance. "Move."

The boy simply smile and moved closer threateningly.

"Move. Or else." Nana said imperiously.

"Or else what?" The boy sneered.

Nana began to reply, but faltered when she realized that she really didn't have anything to back up the threat. "What do you want?"

"To show you freaks your place!" The boy raised his first into the air angrily. "You all think you're better than us!"

"W-what?" Nana asked, confused. "I don't think anyone's ever said that!"

"Shut up!" The boy swung his fist at her.

Instinctually, she activated her +anima and screeched as loud as she could.

The boy, carried by momentum, still hit her, but fell down stunned. After maybe ten seconds of stunned silence for both parties the boy, still on the floor, started whimpering, tears streaking down off his face. "I-I-I just want to be special."

Unsettled, Nana gingerly stepped around the boy.

~oOo~

Cooro stood under a leafless crab apple tree. Just outside the east exit of the school.

He waved as he saw Husky, Nana, and Senri come out the automatic double doors. "Hey guys!"

Nana and Husky waved back. Senri just nodded.

The walked down the steps, then got off the pavement and onto the small patch of green, approaching Cooro.

Once Cooro judged that they were close enough, he began to speak. "Did you hear what happened today?"

"What?" Nana and Husky chorused.

"Some guy picked a fight with a mutant!"

"Really? What happened?" asked Husky.

"She beated him up!"

"Beated him up?" Husky asked, nonplussed.

"You know what I mean," Cooro said.

"Where did this fight happen?" asked Husky.

"It wasn't a fight!" Nana interrupted them indignantly. "He threatened me, and then I... incapacitated him."

Cooro laughed, but Husky was more serious. "How did you incapacitate him?"

"Well, I… I don't really know, to tell you the truth," said Nana. "I just… morphed, I think, and then I screamed as loud as I could. He fell down, and I left him alone."

"She morphs into a bat, so I bet it's echolocation." Cooro piped in. "Oh, by the way, have you flown yet?"

Nana shook her head. "No, I'm too scared."

Before any of them could say anything else, Senri shoved his tablet between them. Knowing this was how Senri usually communicated, they looked at it. It was open to a newspaper website, viewing an article titled "Mutant Attacked by Bullies, Arm Broken." The article basically reiterated its title, adding that the authorities had detained the bullies. The event had happened in one of the larger Chicago schools, in the eastern part of the city.

"That's worrying," said Husky.

Nana agreed. "Yeah, I'm getting kind of scared; I might have stopped that one boy, but if there are other bullies at this school…"

Husky shook his head "No, I didn't mean the bullies, there will always be people threatened by other people that look or act different than them. What worries me is the fact that the reporter actually seems to agree with the bullies on some level, and he isn't the only person feeling that way. Eventually, if something isn't done, you might get laws restricting your freedom, kind of like a real life superhero registration act."

"Superhero registration act? Where did you pull that one from?" asked Cooro.

"Comic books."

A car honked nearby, prompting them all to look into the now mostly-vacant parking lot. Seeing her mom's old green Prius, Nana picked up her backpack from the ground, slung it over her shoulder, and, waving goodbye, walked to her mom's car. "Bye!"

Husky and Cooro waved back. "See you!" Senri simply nodded.

After she got in the car, Cooro and Husky resumed their conversation, with Senri observing.

After a few minutes of talking, Cooro snapped his finger. "Oh! I almost forgot! Last week, you said you knew something about what might have happened with the gene mods and your dad's company. What were you going to say?"

Husky smirked. "You only remember that now? Typical. Anyways, I don't really have much information. I did overhear that the Soul Plus project was actually an earlier version of some project they're doing now called the Soul Project, and that the Soul Plus version was spilled or something. It happened about the same time as the rashes started appearing, which makes me think that it might have been the cause of the rashes, and, possibly, the cause of the metamorphoses."

"But if it was just spilled, how could it have spread across the entire world? Even if it was the cause of the rashes, and the rashes were the causes of the morphing, why didn't they activate until after people got gene changers?"

"It's a retrovirus, and, like all viruses, it tends to spread. Most people don't realize it, but they actually already have the extra genes provided by the gene changers. The serums you buy are basically just activation keys for the gene changers. For security reasons, they make it so that it takes a really complicated 'code' to activate the retroviruses, but I bet that, for the Soul Plus project, it was only a prototype when it was spilled, so they hadn't included a specific activation code, and since every retrovirus built using the standard framework includes a default code that is unlocked anytime an unlocking serum built according to the template is injected, since the Soul plus retrovirus probably only includes the default lock it would have been unlocked whenever someone gave themselves a gene changer."

Cooro digested the information for a little while, before saying "that's what I thought. Here." Cooro pulled two hair color changers from his pocket, handing one to Husky and one to Senri. "We all have the rash thingies, and considering how cool morphing looks like, I bet we'll eventually want to do it. So, just in case you ever feel like it…"

Husky looked at the plastic casing of the gene changer for a little while, before slipping it into his pocket. "Thanks, I guess. Where did you get these, anyways?"

Cooro smiled impishly. "Nicked 'em." He turned a little. Seeing a chunky black minivan, he picked up his bag. "Wow, I gave those to you guys just in time. See you later!" He jogged over to the minivan, which now had its door open, leaving Husky with Senri.

Husky turned to Senri. "So, has anything interesting happened to you lately?"

Senri was, as ever, laconic. "…Stuff…."

~oOo~

**A/N: Well, it took me a week, but hopefully this still counts as soon. Next chapter will take longer, not because of content, but because of the barrage of Calculus and Physics tests I'm anticipating, but hopefully I'll still get it out within the next two weeks. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this :).**

**A/C: Last chapter, I was originally going to have Fly exposit his little hear out, but then I realized this would get him fired, and for plot purposes I needed him to stay at Husky's nameless father's nameless corporation. Why is it nameless? Because I'm lazy, that's why. I know there hasn't been much action yet, but hopefully it won't take long to get to the main plot. Thanks for reading, and see you next time!**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Matters of the Mind

April 3rd, 2031

~oOo~

Husky creased his eyebrows. "Wait, doesn't Cooro walk home?"

"Yes." Husky was mildly surprised that Senri had responded, but didn't show it.

"Strange. I suppose he has something he needs to do." Senri nodded.

Senri and Husky stared off into space. Eventually, Senri, then Husky were picked up.

~oOo~

As Crystala's car pulled into her driveway, Husky heard her say "I know you have some problems with your half-sisters, but I'm having Tanya and her daughters over for dinner tonight, and I'd like you to be civil towards them. Okay?" Husky grumbled, but nodded. He didn't really like any of his half-sisters, or really any of his siblings, but Tanya's twins were okay, mostly because they were only five years old and too intimidated by Husky's near-perpetually sour expression to bother him.

"Why do I have so many siblings?" Husky wondered. His father was fairly famous for sleeping around, but Husky didn't understand why his father didn't simply use birth control. He knew his father was didn't have any religious reasons for not using contraception, and since a subdivision of his father's company actually manufactured birth control, it made even less sense.

The only reason he could think of was... Naaah. He knew his father was rather megalomaniacal, but that was far-fetched, even for him.

Crystala's car stopped, its seatbelts unbuckling automatically. Both passengers got out of the car. There was already a silvery, semitransparent vehicle in the driveway. "Looks like they got here before us," Crystala remarked, as the doors to her car closed automatically. Before they even reached the door, Daisy had already opened it.

"Hi, Husky! Hi Mom! Tanya got here a bit early, so I served her some coffee, I hope that was okay."

Crystala smiled. "Thanks Daisy, that's perfect." Crystala and Husky removed their jackets and placed them in a closet left of the doorway. Crystala's house had a primarily faux-wood and glass construction, with large, slightly blurred windows inserted everywhere conceivable on the ground floor, although the second floor had considerably more fake wood for privacy.

Before Crystala could drag him into having to interact with his half-sisters, Husky darted upstairs with his backpack, muttering something unintelligible about homework.

Husky opened the door to his room, hoping for some privacy, only to find his two half-sisters bouncing on his bed. Husky groaned. Apparently he had overestimated how much he intimidated them. Husky groaned, covering his face with his right hand. "Get. Out."

Jewel and Hope stopped bouncing, and assumed the same imperious expression. They both talked simultaneously, their sentences blending in with each other. Husky couldn't pick out their exact words, but he understood the gist of what they said. Daisy, Crystal, and their mom were having a boring "old people" conversation, and they wanted something to do.

Husky groaned again, the only thing worse than over-enthusiastic five year old girls was over enthusiastic five-year old girls who felt entitled to something.

Resigned, he pulled out a seldom-used game console from a drawer and connected it wirelessly to the wall display in the front of his room. The girls requested "Curb Stomp Wars III." Thankfully, he owned that game (it had been a birthday present from Daisy, before they had really gotten to know each other's habits.)

Jewel and Hope started playing immediately. Husky tried to concentrate on his homework. It worked for a while, and Husky managed to finish his Math and English homework, and start on his Social Studies homework, but, eventually, he grew too distracted. Sighing, Husky asked the twins to lower the volume, and possibly turn off the in-game music. As one, the twins refused. Husky asked again, this time with a slightly more menacing tone of voice. The twins refused again. Using his administrator control over the wall display, Husky completely removed all sound. It was blessedly quiet for a moment, but then the twins started whining at the top of their very shrill voices. Husky was almost ready to turn the sound back on when a video chat request from Cooro, labeled "VERY URGENT" appeared at the top left screen of his laptop. Ignoring their cries, Husky kicked the twins out of his room. Cooro rarely labeled his calls as "VERY URGENT" but when he did, they usually where.

Husky touched the blinking icon, opening the chat window.

Onscreen, Cooro's face popped up. "Something bad happened to Senri." Husky got a sinking feeling in his gut.

~oOo~

Earlier:

Senri stepped out of his mom's light green Prius. The car was rather beat up, being more than twenty years old, but it was still serviceable, and most charging stations still sold gas, although it usually went for more than eight dollars a gallon. He had been dropped off relatively near the convenience store where he worked, but he still had a walk of about two miles in front of him. He really didn't mind though; Senri enjoyed walking.

He walked with his head straight forward, although he somehow managed to avoid every major crack in the pavement. After about one and a half blocks of the same rather dilapidated sidewalk and pristine road, Senri heard muffled voices coming from his hometowns one and only back alley. At first, Senri figured that is was merely someone joking around with their friend, but as he listened more closely, he could distinctly hear the fear in the higher pitched of the voices.

"Please... Don't..."

"Money... Else..."

Senri couldn't make out the conversation very well, but he could tell that something was wrong.

He turned into the alley, expecting to see a middle school bully harassing his younger classmate. Instead, he saw a muscle-bound old man in a tweed jacket threatening an elementary schooler with a serrated pocket knife. The old man looked like he was drunk, and he talked accompanied by exaggerated motions. Senri knew that while he would have slower reflexes and coordination than if he was sober, but he was likely unreasonable and would probably respond to talking with violence.

The man's knife came within inches of the elementary schooler's neck during one of the drunk's motions. Senri made his decision. He darted forward and grabbed the child, picking him up and pivoting on his foot in one smooth motion. The drunk, confused by Senri's sudden motion, hesitated before acting, leaving Senri with enough time to get the child out of harm's way. He ran to the street and deposited the child on its feet. As the boy ran away, Senri looked back, to see if the drunk was still there.

The knife just barely missed Senri, but the wild punch hit Senri directly in the face, flinging him to the ground and smashing his head against the pavement with an audible _crack._

The drunk looked around. Realizing through the alcohol induced fog in his head that people were watching, he started stumbling away from Senri's prone body, even through his haze, he knew that he probably didn't want to be around when the police came.

~oOo~

"So, as far as we know, that's what happened, although the police are still interrogating the drunk."

Husky nodded. "Is Senri going to be all right? Also, you said you were at the hospital, near Senri's hospital room. How did you find out about this so quickly?"

"Well... the doctors didn't really give me that much information. I know that Senri has at least a bad concussion, and probably some cracked bones, but I don't know if he'll have brain damage. I really hope he doesn't." Cooro was visibly distressed as he said this. "Senri used to come over and play games with the younger kids at my orphanage, so when the nuns heard that Senri was hurt, possibly quite badly, they immediately came over. I think they're talking with Senri's mom right now. They know I'm Senri's friend, so they made space for me in the van."

Both stopped talking for a while, Husky to truly digest what Cooro had said, and Cooro to check if the doctor's where saying anything knew about Senri's condition."

"Wait, does Nana know anything about this?" Husky asked.

Cooro shook his head. "No, she didn't pick up when I requested a vid-chat. I think she's at her psychiatrist or something. I recorded what I said though, and I've already sent the video to her phone, so she'll know what's going on."

Cooro paused again, looking gloomy. "Do you think he's going to be okay Husky?"

Husky thought for a moment. "No."

"What! How could you say that?!" Cooro exclaimed.

"I don't like it any more than you do, but I honestly don't think he'll be okay. You would have told me if the doctors had told you anything about Senri's condition, and if the doctors had anything positive to say about how Senri's doing, then they would have told you." Husky leaned back in his chair, suddenly tired. "Bye, Cooro, I still have homework to do." Husky shut of the video feed.

"Wait-" It was too late, Husky had already turned off his feed. Cooro pouted for a little, he had forgotten to ask Husky if he had taken the gene-changer already. Cooro had already taken his, and was waiting for it to come into effect. Depression soon came back, though. Husky was usually right when he made his pessimistic predictions, and Cooro had only become more worried about what would happen to Senri. He knew Senri would probably survive, but beyond that...

To distract himself, Cooro checked his email, before playing a few point and click games. Eventually, he decided to check a news website.

_"In congress, politicians are heavily opposed on what to do involving the mutant children, with some calling for restrictions on them, citing several cases where one of the mutants managed to hurt another child or an adult with their "mutant powers."_

_Others reference the constitution citing the right to bear arms._

_Alternatively, some propose that the government force the genetic modification companies involved in the mutations to create a "cure" to the mutation, and to administer it to any mutant that has committed a violent crime._

_Interestingly, this debate is not split across party lines, with many religious conservatives, as well as democrats with socialist and communist tendencies advocating restrictions, while more moderate democrats and republicans leaning towards libertarianism are against any sort of restrictions being placed on the mutants._

_The two independents in the Senate, and the four in the House, have yet to give their positions, but they seem to be creating a common strategy, and possibly attempting to combine themselves into a third party, to break up the two party system that our government has._

_Also being debated is the opportunity to threaten enemy terrorists in Africa and the Middle East with nuclear bombs now that the Space Defense Initiative is completed. The president is against this, primarily because of moral reasons, but also because S.D.I. has not been thoroughly tested, and a nuclear bomb getting through the network of satellites would kill millions of people, and would likely create a third world war. Back to you, Steve."_

The feed switched to a different reporter, and Cooro got off the website.

~oOo~

**A/N: A while ago, Moofy-Fan reviewed asking about one of Husky's brothers, which I mentioned, but never showed, and I acted like he didn't exist in the following chapter. I've decided that he stays with Husky's father during the week, but leaves to stay with his mom during the weekend. I'm sorry it took so long to post this explanation as well as this chapter; hopefully I'll be able to write some over Thanksgiving break. Anyways, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this! Constructive criticism is always appreciated!**

**A/C: The van that picked up Cooro at the end of last chapter may or may not have brought Cooro somewhere important, but, obviously, it picked up Cooro way before Senri got hurt. I only inserted it into the chapter by accident, because I forgot that I had said that Cooro walked home, so I had to retcon some. I know that it looks like I deviated with the established characterizations of Cooro and Nana by sending them to nerd school, but I'd like to point out that Nana's and Cooro's actual classes are not that far ahead of their actual ages- Nana's math and science classes are two years ahead of her age (yes: biochemistry 101 is 9th grade science twenty years from now, and her English class (which I don't believe I've shown yet) is only one year ahead of her age. Cooro takes essentially the same core classes as Nana, so his math and science classes only one year ahead and his English class in grade level. Anyways, in the manga, I'm fairly sure Cooro only acts stupid so people underestimate him- obfuscating stupidity. I know this commentary sound rather preachy, but I just had to get all that stuff off my chest :P. Make sure to review with any questions you still have, so I can fix them in the story!**

**Fun Fact: the school the crew is at is called a magnet school. Real magnet schools include the Massachusetts Academy of Science (in Massachusetts,) and Capital Prep Magnet School in Connecticut. Because magnet school can draw students from middle and high schools simultaneously, I had an easy way to get all the major characters in the same place.**


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